Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, Archbishop of Tegucigalpa, has been elected on the 5th of June 2007 as President of Caritas Internacionalis at their 18th General Assembly in the Vatican City. He will officially take office at the end of the general assembly on June 9.

Grigor Vidmar was also elected the Caritas International Treasurer. Cardinal Rodriguez will replace the incumbent president Denis Vienot, who was also running for his second term. The new Secretary General will be chosen on Friday 8 June.

Cardinal Rodriguez, born in Tegucigalpa 29 December 1942, was unable to attend the General Assembly as it clashed with a meeting of the Latin American Bishops. However, he stated in a phone call from Tegucigalpa “I would like to convey to the General Assembly thanks from the bottom of my heart. I appreciate the trust and the confidence they have shown in me.”

He also conveyed that the organisation “needs to work hard for the needs of the poor, especially at this time, we must share the goods and stand up to overcome social injustice”.

The Cardinal, previously tapped to be the next pope despite his age, was ordained for the Salesians on 28 June 1970. An accomplished linguist, speaking 7 languages, Cardinal Rodriguez holds a doctorate in theology from the Pontifical Lateran University, Rome, and a diploma in clinical psychology and psychotherapy from Leopold Franz University, Innsbruck.

On 28 October 1978, the Cardinal was appointed titular Bishop of Pudentiana and Auxiliary of Tegucigalpa. He is the first Cardinal from Honduras. He later received Episcopal ordination on 8 December. He was promoted to Archbishop of Tegucigalpa on 8 January 1993 and was President of CELAM (1995-99).

Cardinal Rodriguez has also taught chemistry, physics and music at several colleges in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala and was professor of moral theology and ecclesiology at the Salesian Theological Institute, Guatemala, and rector of the Salesian Philosophical Institute, also in Guatemala.

An ex vice president of Caritas Internationalis, Rodriguez was proclaimed Cardinal by John Paul II in the consistory of February 21, 2001. He is also currently the president of the Epsicopal conference of Honduras.

In the next few days the Cardinal will travel to Rome to swear the oaths of his position as Caritas President, a position which lasts 5 years.

During the election process, in which up to 400 delegates turned up to the Vatican for the 18th General Assembly of Caritas Internationalis, under the topic “Witnesses of charity, craftsmen of peace”, a giant “Make Aid Work” banner was raised in front of St Peter’s Basilica as a message to the G8.

Representatives of the humanitarian web of the Catholic Church included the CIDSE network who also took part in the event and are partners in the “Make Aid Work” campaign.

A spokeswoman of Caritas Internationalis stated that the purpose of the banner, which stated “ MAKE AID WORK, The world can’t wait!” was to “attract attention towards the fact that the most rich countries of the world aren’t committing to their promise to increase help for the most poor countries in order to increase their efficacy”.

Caritas asks the G8 to commit to their pledges made two years ago at the G8 Summit in Gleneagles, Scotland by adopting a “precise calendar” to maintain these promises. Promises which “would have lifted millions out of poverty. Instead, we have seen backsliding on aid. The latest figures show aid flows in reverse for the first time in 10 years. Of the worst offenders, Italy is predicted to be $8 billion short on its promises, France $7.6 billion short and Germany $7 billion.”